KIEV, July 26 (RIA Novosti) - A train, 15 of whose tanker cars carrying yellow phosphorus overturned in western Ukraine Monday catching fire and releasing pollution, is now on its way back to Kazakhstan, the Ukrainian Emergencies Ministry said Thursday.
The accident occurred when the freight train traveling from the Central Asian country to Poland derailed outside Lvov, near the Polish border. Several cars caught fire, sending poisonous fumes over a large area.
Official reports said 49 people, including 15 children, were harmed by the fumes and 14 populated areas with a total of 11,000 residents were affected. During the cleanup operation, 18 emergency workers were also poisoned. Some 800 people were evacuated from the area.
A total of 120 victims, including 32 children and 14 rescuers, who were involved in firefighting operations on the site, are still undergoing in-patient medical treatment. The Ukrainian Emergencies Ministry said all of them were in satisfactory condition.
The train will go to Kazakhstan via Russia. A spokesman for Russia's rail monopoly, Russian Railways, earlier said all required safety measures would be taken to escort the train along the route, bypassing populated areas in Russia.
Oleg Mitvol, deputy head of Russia's environmental watchdog, said Thursday his agency would monitor the train on its way to Kazakhstan.
"This is a primary task of the transport safety service, but we will also monitor the developments and take emergency measures in case of an accident, though I hope it will not take place," Mitvol said.
The Ukrainian government said the accident was the country's worst man-made disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl tragedy. A special commission has been set up to investigate the accident, and criminal proceedings have been launched.
Ukrainian authorities cited the poor condition of the rail track as the main cause of the accident.
The Lvov Region administration said the accident had inflicted $109,000 worth of damage on local agriculture, and several dairy farms situated in the area have already demanded compensation.
The Ukrainian government has allocated $2.8 million to eliminate the consequences of the disaster, the country's Finance Ministry said.
"The waste left over after clearing up the accident is currently being collected at the site and water remaining after firefighting and rains is being removed," Ukrainian Emergencies Minister Nestor Shufrych said. "In a couple of days, the area will look like it did 10 days ago."
Another Ukrainian official, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk, said passenger traffic on the damaged section of the railway would be resumed at about 8 p.m. Moscow time (4 p.m. GMT).
